1. Technical Field
This invention relates to horse hoof protection, and more particularly to a new urethane resin composition and methods for the cushioning of the horse""s hoof and the blocking of ingress of harmful debris into the sensitive frog portion of the hoof.
2. Related Art
Webs of leather, plastic or rubber, called pads, attached to the hoof wall, and sized to extend across the hoof sole and cover the frog portion of the hoof are sometimes inserted under the horseshoe to protect the sensitive areas of the hoof. Moisture or debris sometimes work their way into the open volume defined broadly by the hoof bottom wall comprising the hoof sole and frog, causing discomfort or harm to the animal. Efforts to fill the volume have involved adding resins to the sole and covering with the web. These expedients have not proved successful because of difficulties in handling the resins, available resins having too high viscosity to permit readily filling into the horse hoof volume, persistent resin tackiness, lack of fill of all interstices or voids within the volume, and undue final hardness of the resin. Further, known resins do not adhere to the web used to cover the hook frog, leaving space between the resin mass and the web or pad for incursions of debris.
It is an object of the invention to provide protection for horses"" hoofs, and cushioning for horses"" steps. It is a further object to provide a hoof packing composition and method, the composition being a urethane resin that that flows easily and readily into the hoof volume and new composition gels and sets up nearly immediately to a firm, somewhat resilient mass with a hardness between about 40 and 80 Shore A. The invention composition adheres to the hoof volume walls against loss of the mass or incursions of debris. The invention avoids the difficulties of resin tackiness, incursions of debris from loose or incomplete fill, undue hardness in the resin, and handling problems arising from use of putty-like or heavier resins which must be packed in rather than flowed in. It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of injecting the invention resin composition into the volume defined by the hoof bottom wall, e.g. under a protecting web on a horse hoof or without such web, in which the interstices and surface voids of the volume are completely filled so that there is no incursion of debris, no handling problems with pasty or tacky resin systems, and the final result is a softer and more resilient mass than the horse hoof wall, the mass even being transparent to permit viewing of the horse""s sole. Further it is an object to adhere the web or pad to the resin mass, making the hoof protection unitary and completely blocked against debris intrusion.
These and other objects of the invention to become apparent hereinafter are realized in the method of protecting a horse""s hoof, including cleaning the open volume formed by the hoof bottom wall of debris, incorporating a rapidly gelling synthetic organic resin into the volume, the resin having a viscosity Such that the resin freely conforms to the contours of the hoof bottom wall, and gelling the resin in situ in hoof bottom wall adhering relation, the resin comprising the urethane reaction product of
In this and like embodiments, typically, the method further includes injecting the resin into the volume against the hoof bottom wall in conforming relation therewith; and, where the volume has an open mouth, including also Fixing a web across the volume open mouth, and thereafter incorporating the synthetic resin into the volume under the web, and gelling; and, selecting as the synthetic resin a urethane resin having a gel time of about 20 seconds, the gelled resin adhering to the hoof bottom wall, and, fixing the web in place with nails, fasteners, adhesive, or otherwise into the hoof bottom wall; fixing the web to the hoof with a horseshoe secured to the hoof bottom wall; and gelling the resin to a hardness of between about 40 and 80 Shore A.
Typically, the invention resin when finally gelled is softer than the horny wall of the hoof and cushions the hoof against shock; and, may be transparent or at least translucent when gelled, so that the hoof sole is visible through the resin.
Typically, the Resin Sides A and B are combined from a pair of cartridges into a static mixer separate reactive resin components forming a rapidly curing synthetic organic resin in an amount suitable for hydraulically filling the volume, conforming tile resin to the contours of the hoof bottom wall, and curing the resin to a gel in situ.
In a further embodiment, the invention provides a protected horse hoof comprising a hoof and a hoof bottom wall forming an open volume and a synthetic organic resin conformed with and adhered to the hoof bottom wall in volume filling relation such that the hoof volume is free of unfilled voids and interstices, the resin comprising the urethane resin described above.
In this and like embodiments, typically, the synthetic organic resin within the volume is covered by a web fixed to the hoof; the cured synthetic organic resin has a Shore A hardness between about 40 and 80 and is softer than the horny wall of the hoof and cushions the hoof against shock.
In yet another embodiment, the invention provides the method of protecting a horse from injury during walking or running, including filling the open volume defined by the horse hoof wall with a synthetic organic resin having a viscosity to flow through the interstices of the hoof bottom wall, said resin gelling to be softer than and adherent to the horse hoof wall, and gelling the resin in situ, the resin comprising the urethane resection product described above.
The invention thus provides the urethane reaction product of
The invention also provides the foregoing composition in a dispensing package for incorporating gelling synthetic organic resin into a horse hoof comprising a dual cartridge dispenser in which Side A and Side B of the urethane resin reaction product set forth is packaged each in one of the dual chambers.